Unit 2 Reflection

        Unit two encompassed macromolecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, as well as molecular properties. Carbohydrates are saccharides, atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen formed into rings. Lipids include phospholipids that make up cell membranes, as well as fatty acids in food that can be saturated or unsaturated. Proteins include enzymes, which facilitate the chemical reactions of substrates into products, and structural proteins, which make up different parts of the body. Nucleic acids are composed of nucleotides, which combine at the bases and phosphate groups to form long chains of DNA or RNA, and also include ATP, which is broken down to acquire energy. In addition, polar molecules such as water have properties like cohesion and adhesion, which allow them to be attracted to other molecules of the same or different substance. These properties allow water to be very useful in making solutions, usually as the solvent. Another type of mixture that water is often found in is a suspension, such as blood or cytosol, where undissolved materials fail to settle out. This attraction is called a hydrogen bond, where oppositely charged regions attract; other bonds include ionic bonds, in which atoms gain or lose an electron, and covalent bond, in which electrons are shared.

Nucleic acids include DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid

        We also completed a number of different labs in this unit, including the sweetness lab and the cheese lab. These experiments provided further insight into various topics, showing how a higher number of rings leads to less sweet sugar, and how a hot, acidic chymosin solution gave the optimal environment for cheese curdling in milk, respectively. The sweetness lab was mostly a success, aside from a subjective analysis providing slightly contrasting results, but the cheese lab data was skewed by having to clean up early, and some groups not incubating the samples for the full length of time. This led to a somewhat longer curdling time, but the results were still conclusive. In general, however, the labs proved a success in supporting certain concepts and hypotheses and grantng insight, aside from the minor setbacks due to user error.

The sweetness lab compared the sweetnesses of different saccharides

        All in all, I attained from this unit an abundance of both information and experience, and I look forward to learning more in-depth about the processes and makeup of enzymes and ATP, and finding out the nuances and complex aspects of how our body functions.